district 7: the forgotten 74TH HG tribute
by EvaHGD7
Summary: Vesper grove is reaped for the 74th annual hunger games, along with 2 surly mentors and a weak companion, Vesper must realize, does she really want to come home? she didn't grow up in an affectionate household, and her father wants her dead. Are the hunger games a sign that her life is worth living?
1. Part 1: Reaped

I spot a flicker of purple hair on the stage in the town meeting circle through the pearl white crowd of peacekeeper uniforms. The purple hair belongs to Flissy Sparks, because no one in our district has any reason to dye there hair for beauty of course and it isnt a natural hair color. Flissy is a broad, giggly woman who looks to be in her mid thirties, and is the district 7 escort for the hunger games. I make my way to the 'registration' table where a gloved peacekeeper takes my blood and blots it into a book with my information card on it. |Vesper Grove|15|district 7|. This precaution is never taken during regular days, today is the reaping. My mother died when pneumonia hit district seven brought by sick peacekeepers from the capitol. My father has had hatred of the capitol ever since and every hunger games his hatred grows stronger. I get in line with the other fifteen year olds. After the film and speech mayor Jones gives about the hunger games, explaining why we owe the capitol and why the games are one way to show how we are at the capitols mercy, Flissy Sparks begins the reaping her usual "happy hunger games" remark. "Hello everyone and let the reaping commence!" Flissy says a short speech and i look over to the left of the stage where a ragged-looking man sits, staring off into space. His name was Blight, the only living male victor, i dont know him well enough to acknowlage him when i see him at the store or taking a walk. On the right of the stage sits Johanna Mason, she, i do know. I was on the same squad as her before she was reaped for the hunger games. We used to chop wood together in the evergreen forest. I even went into the forbidden woods to pick twigs with her once, with poor results, i got stung by the fence and had to jump over the weak spot. Flissy sarts how she always does. "ladies first!" her 'd's sound like T's. I give Johanna a reasurring look, assuring her that i never took tessera. "Vesper Grove" Flissy annouces. "Vesper?". I feel like the air has been punched out of my lungs. I gulp, even though my throat is dry, and make my way onto the stage. Via Diggies, My neighbor looks more frightened than me. She was 12, it was her first reaping and her closest kindest friend has just been picked to go into certain death. What a tough beginning. "and now for the boys", Flissy drags her hand around the boys bowl until she picks up a slightly bent paper. "Arnold Whittaker". A small, pasty boy, comes of out the 16 year olds cluster. I barely know Arnold, but all i know is that he is teased for being a weakling and not being strong enough to pick up an axe or chainsaw. Arnold makes is way onto the stage, stumbling on the front step. "Your tributes, people of district 7!" Flissy announces, we shake hands. No one claps, they just weep silently, breathe heavily and Via, my best friend, maybe my only friend gave Flissy a silent dirty look. Then we are taken to the justice building for our goodbyes. To my surprise Johanna ia the first one to visit me. She doesnt even say hi. "Look, i didnt expect you to be reaped today, im not choosing sides but i think you have a better chance of winning than that little twig that was picked too." she said. "You can chop, maybe that will help.." Johanna laughed.. I knew that was true, i had spent my whole life chopping trees, i know what an axe can do, how it cuts and where the weak spots are, so familiar that i even have sores on my hands from gripping splintery wood to hard. " I have seen your efforts, kid if you want to win this thing go do it.". "its not that easy" I say, because it really isnt, no matter how you put it." i need food, water and what about facing the Career pack, hmm!" Johanna thought for a moment. Then she said," ill supply you with whatever food i can, and theres always been a source of water" She says, remembering the year it was only a hot, dry wasteland and tributes died from loss of body fluids. "And facing the Careers?...you can handle that" she said. "Or just hide until everyone is dead" she added with a laugh. Then the peacekeepers lead her out and my next visitor came in. My father, Via and some girl i have never seen before. "Are you going to win?" my father said with a smirk. "I don't know, the odds have not been in my favor so far, what do you think." I shot back. He stood up and said "Well, if you don't I will have one less mouth to feed." He said, and left the room. He really is just waiting for me to die, so he can scare Via away so he wont bother him then slowly kill himself with Morphling. "Vesper, i believe you can win if your careful, but if your not going to and the odds are going against us, then make this goodbye" Via said then hugged me tight, kissed me on the cheek and we just stood thee, letting her tears fall onto my pale pink dress, crinkling the collar. Via stood up looked at me and whispered "bye, see you on the big screen" and left. Via stopped in the doorway and added, "And on victors night." she said with a sly smile. That leaves the strange girl, and me. "Hi, I'm Hazel, I share a bunk with Via at the orphantage. Your father didn't want to do this himself so he asked Via to do it, but Via wouldn't, that's why im here now." she said. "Vesper, do you know what they do when a person gets married in district 7?" she asked. I nodded, i did know. The couple takes their blood and pours it into some dirt then plants a tree in the blood sprinkled soil. When a member of the couple dies half the branches of the tree is cut and buried with the person. "well, here is some pieces of you mother and fathers wedding tree.". She held out a charred bracelet, beaded with dead chucks of bark,and tightened with a gold string. "Took me all day and night but i turned the tree into a bracelet." Hazel said. "You know, tributes are allowed to wear something from their district, well, as long as it cant kill someone". I look a the beautiful bracelet, having it in the arena would be great, you could burn it t make a fire and cook some weeds or dough or whatever were supposed to eat in the arena. Why am i thinking this? I should be cherishing that i have such a special gift, like my mother guarding me. I guess didn't grow up in a very affectionate household, which means I can be very heartless if I wanted to. "Thank you hazel" is all i say. She smiles. "Bye, and I hope to see you back in time for harvest next year" Hazel says, then hugs me and walks out of the room. Then my time is up, the peacekeepers lead me and Arnold away from the justice building and to the train station. The train,of course is a miniature version of the capitol, with servants and fancy cups. Even in small portions, i haven't ever seen so much food in my life altogether. My breakfast of soup and bread is garbage compared to this. Now that i think about it, it wasn't even soup, it was a bowl of hot water with tiny clunks of old chicken floating on the top with a piece of stale bread we found in the pantry. But with the mold cut off. Arnold was making out fine with this new arrangement, he made the waiter repeat the dessert's 4 times then decided he was full! Flissy tells us to go to the living area, Blight and Johanna want to talk to us. When I walk into the room, Arnold is already there. "We don't actually expect you to win" Blight says immediately. "But i you can, it would be nice". Johanna moves over so I can sit. "Just put on a good show and kill as many people you can, no matter what the human cost" Johanna adds. "But what about the districts!" I yell. "I cant kill Arnold, district 7 will never forgive me.". Blight gives me this look like i am the dumbest person in Panem. "Arnold isn't going to be the first person you go after, remember is 24 of you" he says. "I highly doubt both of you will be alive for the end of this, so all odds are against it". Then Blight leaves the room. "To win..." Johanna begins. "You have to want it" Johanna says. "Do you want to win?". Arnold nods, but i don't move. She grabs the remote for the TV and we watch a recap of the reapings. A pretty green eyed girl and a hazel haired, tall boy from district 1, a huge looking 18 year old boy from 2. And some screaming little blonde girl from 12, but is replaced by a scary teenage girl with black hair and olive skin, quickly voulenteers for her. A boy who has the same black hair and olive skin, drags the little blonde away from her sister. Those are all the ones that stick out to me, but a little creep is picked from district 5, I don't remember her name or her look, just her eyes. I will have to keep an eye on her.


	2. Part 2: Famed

Once we got to the capitol, we were rushed to the remake center where our prep teams washed away years of District grime and filth. My prep team consists of Magenta, A silly,bubbly woman with velvet colored eyes. Kyle, A middle aged man who apparently loves to judge all my flaws like im an animal. "Vesper, my darling, do people in district 7 even bathe!" or "Do they have hairbrushes where you come from?" Kyle would say. And Skittie, a dramatic, high maintenance plump lady with no patience. They scrubbed me down with vile smelling soap, then while Skittie and Kyle waxed every hair from my body, Magenta swirled shampoo into my hair and dried it into complicated knot. My prep team left for a moment to get makeup instructions from Felix, my stylist, and left me sitting in a tub of blueish, thick, syrup stuff. Once they get back, they get to work painting my nails in swirly green patterns, highlight my face with dyes and powders, and put my hair up into a fan of hair, letting smooth ringlets fall to my face, softening my cheekbones. "Your all ready for Felix to see you!" says Magenta happily, fixing my hair with a few more pins. "We did the best we could, considering we cant use industrial polishing!" adds Kyle."We save that, to cover the victors flaws after the games, but you could use some too.". The man is comparing me to someone who survived the horrible, starving, messy horrors of the arena, not even a person, a slab of meat that crawls out of the arena barely breathing. Capitol simpletons. They lead me to a room that except for a black couch, wood table, and a marble tree statue, was bare, and im left alone for a few minutes. For the first time since we got here, I get to think. What happened to Arnold? Is he being tortured too, getting removed of so-called repulsive body hair. "Yeah, if he had any." I think. This though makes me laugh for some reason. As I laugh to myself, my stylist comes in. "Hello" I say shaking. "Hello, Vesper. I am your stylist, Felix Marshino." He says in a soft, tinkery voice. "I am here to turn you into a goddess so when your in that arena, the crowd remembers you, wants to help you and help you vie for the victors crown.". He shows me a white robe knotted at weird but interesting angles tied with flakes of wood. With a matching head dress made of plaster and shaped like a fan, with the same fan cuffs on the wrists. Of course, I cant be anything else, District 7, lumber, in this case paper. I look like fresh, pure, white paper fresh from the press. He pushes me into a curtained room where Felix's assistants dressed in black, help him pin the dress on me. First I step into the robe, they attach the wood. They slip the fan collars over my wrists and neck and help me into dusty white leather boots. Finally,Felix applies a net to my hair, which is perfectly knotted into a beautiful bow , and straps the headress of beautifully folded origami onto my head, but letting gold rings of hair fall to my face. Felix and his team apply last touches of paper folds onto my dress while im getting into the elevator. The elevator is a giant glass thing, floors numbered my the district number. I press LL for lower level and see that Arnold is already in the chariot, wearing a male version of my fan outfit. Its almost time to go when I see the district 12 tributes flaming costumes. I remember the girl, the one who took the place of the screaming child. She looks no beautiful and different. I awaken from my thoughts and to a screaming crowd, I smile and wave and catch the crowds kisses and flowers. But my glory ends when the crowd looks to the last chariot. No more flowers fall and no more kisses are blown my way. Not that im jealous, but her costume is better than all of them. The crowd roars. The flicker of the flames illuminates the boys hair, making it look shiny and solid. How ironic, I laugh just as our chariot loops around the circle and stops. Fire burns paper, fire burns coal, fire burns trees, fire burns me. By the time president snow finishes a short speech, I am hot and sweaty, eyeliner starts to roll down my cheek. I wipe it away, but since it is black and inky, it arches my eyebrow making it look longer than the other one. After the chariot rides, we return to the big glass elevator, Johanna elbows the 7 button on the elevators control panel and we get to our floor almost instantly. Then we are directed away to our rooms, away from the fancy crowds.


End file.
